Indie Developer Turns Shibuya Into A Retro RPG Dungeon

Tokyo’s Shibuya Station sees millions of people go in and out of its gates on a daily basis. It’s also one of the largest stations in Japan, with one of its more memorable bits being the Hachiko statue meeting point.

It is also, when you’re wandering its underground bits, a veritable dungeon. One that even Japanese people can get lost in. Therefore, it’s the perfect spot for a retro-style RPG labyrinth dungeon-crawl on your smartphone commute through it! UeharaLabo thinks so anyway, and he’s released an indie dungeon crawler called Shibuya Dungeon.

The goal of the game is to somehow figure your way out to the right exit that links to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government building and its legendary crystal with monsters and other things like puzzle gates in the way to stymie your advance of course. (Fun fact: This is one of the few places in Tokyo with a free observation deck. Why go to the Sky Tree when this is free?)

If you’re a denizen of Tokyo who has to take the route through this subway hell daily, rest assured says Uehara that he’s recreated the entire thing faithfully to give you a minor leg up. There’s even a collection mode which tracks how much of each different line’s areas you’ve explored and picked up gear from.

If you want to cheat though, as Indie Navi points out you could rely on maps such as Tokyo Metro’s…